The mission of the McArdle Laboratory Cancer center is to pursue research directed toward understanding the cause and biology of cancer and the factors the regulate normal and neoplastic growth and differentiation and to train graduate and postdoctoral students in basic cancer research. The investigators at the McArdle Laboratory focus their efforts in three program areas. The goal of the program on the Molecular Biology and Genetics of Tumor Viruses is to understand the life cycles of five families of viruses that cause human cancer and the biological effects that these viruses have on their infected host cells. Five faculty use molecular biology and genetics to elucidate mechanisms of viral replication, the regulation of viral gene expression, and the oncogenic properties of viral gene products. In the program on the Biochemistry and Genetics of Chemical Carcinogenesis, seven faculty seek to elucidate the basic biochemical, and molecular genetic approaches are used to understand the underlying events involved in the initiation, promotion, and progression of carcinogenesis. The objective of the program on the Biology and Genetics of Cell Growth Control is to identify factors and processes that control cell replication and differentiation in normal and neoplastic cells. The eight faculty in the program pursue biochemical and genetic approaches to understanding the regulation of growth-related genes at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels and in vivo genetic approaches to the identification of novel genes that play a role in cancer risk of pathogenesis. All of the faculty are committed to research training at the pre-and postdoctoral levels. Currently, 53 graduate students and 35 postdoctoral fellows are receiving training in basic cancer research.